LuK USA LLC increases production 22 percent with new weld cell

Challenge
LuK USA LLC, a drive train component supplier for the global automotive industry, needed a new welding cell that met lower cycle time requirements and provided a cleaner environment. LuK had an existing assembly cell that could not meet the new cycle time requirements.

Solution
Motion Controls Robotics recommended a new welding cell that utilizes a turntable for welding with a tooling bed on each side. The robotic system includes a pick and place unit to load and unload the parts, which greatly reduces overall cycle time. Since the new cell removes the part from the assembly line, there is no chance of spatter from the weld collecting on the pallet.

Motion Controls Robotics built a turnkey system for LuK that was built and runoff at the company’s headquarters in Fremont, Ohio. Motion Controls performed the complete installation and integration to the LuK assembly line.

The DetailsThe system consists of three Fanuc R-J3/Arc Mate100iB robots equipped with Lincoln PW455 welding systems and Binzel VTS torches. The robots sit on a Genesis pneumatic turntable with one tooling bed per side. The custom tooling clamps the parts and rotates via a Siemens servo drive.

Result
According to LuK USA LLC, the new welding system provides a reduced cycle time and 22-percent increase in production. It also keeps the pallets and conveyer belts cleaner than the previous system.

“This system is duplicated on all of our assembly lines and will continue to be the standard for future assembly lines,” said LuK. “We had a very aggressive delivery schedule. This system had to be installed during the plant shutdown over the Christmas and New Year’s holiday. Motion Controls personnel put forth the extra effort to deliver the machine on time and get it up and running before our shutdown ended.”

LuK also noted that Motion Controls Robotics then responded very quickly to any issue that crept up during the first few weeks of production to ensure that LuK did not have any delivery delays to its customers.

“This is the eighth cell that we have purchased from Motion Controls and they are now the only vendor of robotic MIG cells at our plant,” said LuK. “I’m sure that as we are growing we will continue to rely on them for new systems.”